James O'Barr's tragic gothic comic book, inspired by loss and the lyrics of Ian Curtis and Robert Smith as well as the poetry of Arthur Rimbaud, is something of the perfect goth work of pop literature. Certainly the vengeful Eric is goth's best-received superhero. The movie, though, personified the rage of '90s goth while linking to the origins that played so significant a part in the comic's creation.

Heavyweights like The Cure, The Jesus and Mary Chain, and NIN as well as less mainstream goth acts like Machines of Loving Grace and Medicine all added to the perfection of the soundtrack, as well as the darker sides of non-goth bands like Stone Temple Pilots and Rage Against the Machine. There hasn't been a movie soundtrack since The Crow in 1994, though many have tried.

It's not that the old guard wasn't still producing in 1994. Peter Murphy put out Cascade a year later, and The Cure had a Top 10 hit in Wish two years earlier. But just as the hair-metal of the '80s began to pale in the face of grunge, so did goth's lace-and-satin approach give way to something wilder.